Editorial: Carmel deal makes case for oversight

Mayor Jim Brainard and his Carmel Redevelopment Commission triumphed Monday night when their foes on the City Council joined with their friends to approve a complicated debt refinancing plan.

Some of that 7-0 vote was grudging, however, as critics of the commission said they'd been left to choose the lesser of two evils. Moreover, they demanded and got a provision to cushion residents against future tax increases.

Their assertiveness goes further. Last month, also unanimously, the council voted to take over the commission's operations as of Jan. 1, effectively ending an era during which the mayoral-appointed body amassed more than $300 million in debt and answered only to Brainard.

The highly visible result of that arrangement -- a transformation of the heart of the city that has won national attention -- makes a strong case for the popular mayor. But the price of limited accountability and transparency was too high to pay.

As reported by The Star in September, the commission used a loophole in state law to borrow at an elevated interest rate, enabling the mayor to find extra money for projects but ultimately forcing him to come to the council for a bailout.

The new ordinance puts the commission under the Carmel Redevelopment Authority with the council having final say over its actions. The city clerk-treasurer and council will have full access to its records, ending confusion over that issue.

So far, so good. But more is needed, and it must come from the state.

Several years before Carmel's debt crisis arose, appointed redevelopment commissions answerable only to mayors caught the interest of state Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville. The influential legislator has repeatedly tried and failed to close the loopholes that allow these bodies to incur debt.

"Many mayors have gotten, you might say, impatient with their councils and have gone the route of Jim Brainard, using these shadow governments to make decisions that will affect the taxpayers for 20 or 30 years," Kenley says. "But the council is supposed to be the authority for debt."

A good idea, he adds, will stand the test of debate before an elected body. He hopes the legislature will mandate accordingly in the coming session. The Carmel case is Exhibit A for such a need.

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Editorial: Carmel deal makes case for oversight

Mayor Jim Brainard and his Carmel Redevelopment Commission triumphed Monday night when their foes on the City Council joined with their friends to approve a complicated debt refinancing plan.